About the Business Process Design for the Sample Application

The business processes outlined in the About the Requirements for the Motor Loaner Sample Application topic will be accomplished with the following designs:

• Check-Out Wizard
• Check-In Wizard
• Service Ticket Generation Process Flow
• Service Ticket Approval Alert Process Flow
• Vehicle Status Updater Process Flow
• Management Reports

Check-Out Wizard 

 The system will include a Check-Out Wizard that provides step-by-step instructions for a rental clerk to complete a rental check-out. The system automatically creates a Rental Agreements record for each check-out operation. The wizard will operate in conjunction with a Rental Agreements entity object, which will encapsulate the logic for creating the Rental Agreements record (so the behavior for creating a Rental Agreement manually and for using the wizard is the same; see BPR19: Enforce Rental Agreement Consistency).

1. A Check-Out Wizard will be developed that allows the Rental Clerk to enter a rental period (start and expected return dates) and display the vehicles available for rent during the specified time period. This list can further be 'filtered' defining additional required features of the rental vehicle. (BPR13: Automatically Identify Available Vehicles; BPR14: Simplify Rental Check-Out Procedure; UIR1: Check-Out and Check-In Interfaces)
   
   
2. The Check-Out Wizard will prompt for additional information if a vehicle chosen for rental has existing damage so the customer is not penalized for the damage upon return. (BPR15: Track Existing Damage)
   
   
3. Any Rental Accessories will be available for selection and inclusion in the rental agreement from the Check-Out wizard as well. (BPR16: Track Rental Accessories)
   
   
4. Once the Check-Out process is complete, the system will automatically update the vehicle's status to indicate that is it rented. (BPR11: Automatically Track Vehicle Status and Mileage)

Check-In Wizard

The system will include a Check-In wizard that provides step-by-step instructions for a rental clerk to process the return of a rented vehicle. The system automatically updates an existing Rental Agreements record for each check-in operation. Note that the wizard will operate in conjunction with a Rental Agreements entity object, which will encapsulate the logic for updating the Rental Agreements record (so the behavior for creating a Rental Agreement manually and for using the wizard is the same; see BPR19: Enforce Rental Agreement Consistency).

1. All fields of the Rental Agreement that should be filled out upon a vehicles return will be managed through a Check-In Wizard. (BPR17: Simplify Rental Check-In Procedure; UIR1: Check-Out and Check-In Interfaces)
   
   
2. The Rental Agreements entity object will ensure that the ending mileage must be greater than or equal to the starting mileage. (BPR18: Ensure Ending Mileage Is Greater Than or Equal to Starting Mileage)
   
   
3. The wizard will provide the rental clerk with the opportunity to indicate that a vehicle is being returned with new damage that requires repair. (BPR20: Automatically Send Damaged Vehicles for Servicing)
   
   
4. Once the Check-In process is complete, the system will automatically update the vehicle's mileage based on the return mileage and the vehicle's status to indicate that is it either available for rent or has been sent for servicing. (BPR11: Automatically Track Vehicle Status and Mileage)

Service Ticket Generation Process Flow

To address requirements BPR20: Automatically Send Damaged Vehicles for Servicing and BPR21: Automatically Determine If Vehicle Requires Scheduled Maintenance, the system will use a process flow fired before changes to a Rental Agreements record are committed.

If the Rental Agreement update includes check-in fields, the process flow continues through its remaining steps to create Service Tickets for vehicles that are damaged and/or require scheduled maintenance. The process flow will use the Create Service Tickets Record process component, which is generated automatically by Aptify when creating the Service Tickets entity.

The following diagram illustrates the proposed steps in this process flow:

Service Ticket Approval Alert Process Flow

To address the BPR23: Service Ticket Approval requirement, the system will use a process fired before changes to a Service Tickets record are committed.

If the Service Ticket has been marked as Completed but the Release to Fleet option box is cleared, then the process flow sends an e-mail notification to a manager that the vehicle is ready for inspection prior to releasing back to the rental fleet. This process flow will use the standard Send Email process component provided by Aptify.

The following diagram illustrates the proposed steps in this process flow:

Vehicle Status Updater Process Flow

To address the BRP24: Automatically Update Vehicle Status Once Servicing Approved requirement, the system will use a process fired after changes are saved to a Service Tickets record.

If the Service Ticket is saved with a Status of Complete and the Release to Fleet option selected (following a manager's approval), then the process flow will automatically determine if there are any other open Service Tickets for the same vehicle. If there are no open tickets, the vehicle's status is updated to Available. If there are open tickets, the vehicle's status is updated to Servicing. The process flow will use the Update Vehicles Record process component, which is generated automatically by Aptify when creating the Vehicles entity, to change the vehicle's status as needed.

The following diagram illustrates the proposed steps in this process flow:

Management Reports

The system will include two shared views available included on a manager dashboard to satisfy the reporting requirements, BPR25: Easily Accessible Reports to Determine Vehicle Status and BPR26: Easily Accessible Report to Forecast Vehicle Returns:

• Pie chart of all vehicles grouped by status with a specified drill-down List View that displays vehicle details for a particular status when an area of the chart is selected.
• List view display all rented vehicles expected to be returned on the current date.